The Obama campaign gay-gaffed again on Wednesday during a conference call with LGBTQ media reps. While he seems to have his heart in the right place for our issues, he and his campaign seem uncomfortable and (maybe too harsh a phrase) tone-deaf in some regards.
PageOneQ reports that during the call, to announce the hiring of David Noble as “Director of the LBGT Vote”, the Obama campaign’s Steve Hildebrand referred to the need for acceptance of “the gay lifestyle.”
During a brief question-and-answer period, Matt Comer of QNotes in Charlotte, North Carolina asked what safeguards the campaign had put in place to prevent another Donnie McClurkin incident, referring to the gospel singer’s anti-gay rant during an Obama-sponsored gospel tour before the South Carolina Primary.
Hildebrand took responsibility as the person “central to overseeing our operations” in South Carolina, as well as being Obama’s key advisor.
“We messed on the vetting of Donnie McClurkin,” Hildebrand said. “Had we known some of his background, we probably never would have invited him to participate in that gospel tour.”
Hildebrand then talked about how Obama is “a different kind of politician” who often talks with the African-American community about how “there needs to be less bigotry, there needs to be more of a working relationship, you know, more acceptance of a lot of African-Americans who do not agree with the gay lifestyle. There was a time where [Obama] repeated that we’ve got to do better – that my own black community needs to do better. And he does not hesitate to do that.”
One could almost hear an audible gasp coming across the muted press phone lines. “Gay lifestyle?” That a term long associated with anti-gay right-wingers who promote sexual orientation as a “lifestyle choice” flowed so easily from the lips of Obama’s top gay advisor was startling.
Audio of this reporter’s question ad the campaign’s answer may be heard here.
I haven’t seen any bloggers or MSM comments so far, but it irks me just as much that Hildebrand states the campaign only “probably” would not have included Donnie McClurkin him on their gospel tour if they had known his background. Slip of the tongue, or freudian slip?
Queeristan - everywhere you are 